raven

The raven is a minor but symbolically persistent figure in Animal Farm, first appearing as Mr. Jones's tame pet and spy, later returning after a long absence to preach the otherworldly doctrine of Sugarcandy Mountain, and ultimately serving as a tolerated mouthpiece for religious consolation that the pigs exploit to pacify the working animals.

Identity and Early Role

The raven, named Moses, is introduced as Mr. Jones's especial pet, a tame bird who sleeps on a perch behind the back door and is absent from Old Major's historic meeting in the big barn. He is described as a spy and a tale-bearer, but also a clever talker. Moses claims to know of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, situated somewhere up in the sky a little distance beyond the clouds, where it is Sunday seven days a week, clover is in season all year round, and lump sugar and linseed cake grow on the hedges. The animals hate Moses because he tells tales and does no work, yet some of them believe in Sugarcandy Mountain, forcing the pigs to argue very hard to persuade them that no such place exists. During the Rebellion itself, when Mrs. Jones flees the farm, Moses springs off his perch and flaps after her, croaking loudly, aligning himself with the expelled humans.

Return and Reintegration

After an absence of several years, Moses the raven suddenly reappears on the farm in the middle of the summer following the Battle of the Windmill. He is quite unchanged, still does no work, and talks in the same strain as ever about Sugarcandy Mountain. He perches on a stump, flaps his black wings, and talks by the hour to anyone who will listen, pointing to the sky with his large beak and describing the happy country where poor animals shall rest forever from their labours. He even claims to have been there on one of his higher flights and to have seen the everlasting fields of clover and the linseed cake and lump sugar growing on the hedges. Many of the animals believe him, reasoning that their lives are now hungry and laborious and that it is right and just that a better world should exist somewhere else.

The Pigs' Ambiguous Patronage

The attitude of the pigs toward Moses is difficult to determine. They all declare contemptuously that his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain are lies, yet they allow him to remain on the farm, not working, with an allowance of a gill of beer a day. This tolerance stands in stark contrast to the pigs' earlier strenuous efforts to persuade the animals that no such place as Sugarcandy Mountain exists. The pigs' later decision to keep Moses fed and idle suggests that they have come to see his otherworldly promises as a useful opiate for the hungry and overworked animals, a comforting fiction that discourages earthly rebellion by promising heavenly reward.

Narrative Significance

Moses the raven functions as a persistent allegorical figure for organized religion and the promise of an afterlife used to reconcile the oppressed to their earthly suffering. His initial expulsion with the humans and his later tolerated return mark the pigs' evolution from revolutionary ideologues who must combat "false consciousness" into cynical rulers who find such consolations politically convenient. Unlike the other animals who work or are purged, Moses alone is permitted to do nothing and receive a daily beer ration, a privilege that underscores his role as a licensed purveyor of hope. His presence on the farm at the end, still preaching Sugarcandy Mountain while the pigs grow fat and the other animals starve, completes the allegory of a revolution that has restored the very structures of exploitation it was meant to abolish.